China.com commentator Tang Hua.
In March, Beijing is still cold in spring. However, the two sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the National People's Congress (NPC) are being held here to send warmth to the world economy, which has been plagued by unilateralism and regional conflicts.
In the ** work report released on the 5th in the new year, a special chapter introduces "expanding high-level opening up and promoting mutual benefit and win-win results". The report proposes to continue to reduce the negative list for foreign investment access, fully cancel the restrictions on foreign investment access in the manufacturing sector, and relax market access for service industries such as telecommunications and medical care.
Manufacturing is the foundation of the real economy, not only related to the lifeline of a country's economy, but also related to the stability of the global industrial chain. Service industries such as telecommunications and medical care are technology-intensive industries, which widely apply new technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence to support the construction of new infrastructure such as smart cities, smart pensions, and industrial Internet, showing the latest achievements in scientific and technological innovation in a country and even the world. It is precisely because of the importance of these industries that some countries artificially obstruct global cooperation under the banner of "first" in order to suppress the development of other countries and safeguard their own interests. In the manufacturing sector, they forcibly dismantle the existing global division of labor system and engage in so-called "friendly shore outsourcing" on the grounds of "strengthening the resilience of the industrial chain"; In telecommunications, medical and other industries, they falsely claim "data security risks" and "technology leakage risks", deliberately pull enterprises in specific countries into the first-class procurement blacklist, and cut off the channels for communication and cooperation with scientific researchers from other countries.
In the face of the anti-globalization wave set off by these countries, China is like a brave "retrograde", and has always firmly supported globalization and multilateralism with greater efforts and higher-level opening-up measures, and shared development opportunities with the world in the process of promoting Chinese-style modernization.
At the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation held in October last year, China announced that it would completely lift restrictions on foreign investment in the manufacturing sector. In January this year, the National Development and Reform Commission said that it would step up the introduction of policies to fully remove restrictions on foreign investment in the manufacturing sector. In November last year, the Ministry of Commerce's Department of Services and Commerce and Trade Services issued the "Report on China's Service Imports", as well as the ** Economic Work Conference held in December. Since 2017, China has revised the negative list for foreign investment access for five consecutive years, and the restrictions on foreign investment have been continuously reduced. In January this year, the National Development and Reform Commission stated that it would quickly introduce policies to revise the national version of the negative list for foreign investment access.
In addition, this year's ** work report also reiterates that "implement the national treatment of foreign-funded enterprises, ensure equal participation in procurement, bidding and bidding, and standard formulation in accordance with the law, and promote the solution of problems such as cross-border data flow" and "improve the convenience of foreign personnel to work, study and travel in China". These measures show China's firm determination and confidence in continuously expanding its opening up, which means that China will provide more space and convenience for foreign-funded enterprises to invest and do business in China.
Since last year, some overseas ** have advocated the "foreign exit theory", but foreign-funded enterprises have proved with practical actions that China is still one of the most worthy investment destinations in the world. Apple CEO Tim Cook, Procter & Gamble Chairman, President and CEO James Muren, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and heads of multinational companies such as BMW, Bosch, Mercedes-Benz, Pfizer, Schneider Electric, and Siemens all started their visits to China to explore new cooperation opportunities with Chinese partners. In 2023, when global cross-border investment decreased by 18% due to multiple factors such as the new crown epidemic, geopolitics, and protectionism, China will establish 53,766 foreign-invested enterprises, a year-on-year increase of 397%；The amount of foreign capital actually used is 11,339100 million yuan, the scale of investment is second only to 2021 and 2022, and is at the third highest level in history. As Wang Hao, President of Siemens Healthineers Greater China, said, a series of new policies issued by China** provide important confidence for foreign companies to continue to develop in China. The charm of "Investing in China" is still there, which is a reflection of this confidence.
Not long ago, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken drew criticism from all sides when he claimed during the Munich Security Conference in Germany that "in the international system, if you don't sit at the table, you're on the menu." Tamsyn, the new chairman of AmCham China, countered that American companies do not want to be "diners" or "food" and look forward to more cooperation with China. He believes that the investment of American companies in China not only helps China's development, but also helps the US economy grow and grow. It can be seen that no matter how politicians speculate and exaggerate, the so-called "risk theory" of investing in China cannot scare foreign-funded enterprises at all; Investment and cooperation with China is a mutually beneficial and win-win thing, and has become a global consensus.
The road is simple, and actions speak louder than words. In the midst of the complex international situation, China has always unswervingly expanded its opening-up, injected more certainty into an uncertain world, and led the economic growth of all countries in the world through its own development, becoming an "anchor of stability" in the midst of turbulent global economic turbulence.
Editor: Jiang Xinyu, Zhang Yanling, Cai Xiaojuan.